Nightmare at Roadport

He had worked hard, and finally he was here, ready to hand over goodies to his waiting family. But the goods he had worked for over three years to buy were stolen by conmen posing as official port marshals.

“When the bus reached the terminal, there were hordes of people waiting. Before I could locate my family, two men came and offered to carry my bags to the taxi for $3. They were wearing reflective jackets inscribed ‘marshal’ and I thought they were registered. I was surprised when they disappeared into the crowd and by the time I met my family, I had lost three bags,” said Mariyawanda.

Mariyawanda’s experience is unfortunately common. Vendors, touts, and illegal foreign exchange dealers terrorise travellers, making what should be one of the country’s top bus ports a dangerous place.

“The place has become hell. No one controls or regulates the touts and the taxi drivers, so you have to struggle with your bags and safeguard your money and belongings. The property owners and council must come together and contain the situation here,” said a traveller, Chipo Masaire,

Other bus stations, like South Africa’s Park Station, have disembarking bays that are separated from the area where taxi drivers and marshals operate. Police and security guards regulate the conduct of marshals and taxi operators and help travellers who need assistance, but at Roadport, travellers get no form of authoritative protection.

A security guard at the entrance to Roadport refused to talk to The Zimbabwean, and referred all questions to the property owners, Zimre Property Investments. Officials at Zimre could not be reached for comment.

Apart from the chaos, the infrastructure at Roadport has not been refurbished since the opening of the port over a decade ago.

A cross-border bus driver, Tinei Musonza, told The Zimbabwean that due to the increased number of buses using the Roadport, it can take up to an hour to off-load.

“We have to wait for other buses to finish offloading as the place can only accommodate five buses in the offloading zone. This is becoming worse as more and more buses use the terminal,” said Musonza.

It is the small space, the large volume of people, and the lax security that thieves take advantage of to rob passengers. In 2006, the council threatened to close the terminal if the owners failed to upgrade it.

Illegal foreign exchange dealers and traders add to the mayhem. “They stand in the way of travellers literally begging for clients. They are a nuisance and they cause unnecessary chaos,” said a traveller.